Classic cameras

[JJB70]

Lovely! I won't get mine until after the Chinese New Year now, ordered it from Japan and now we are in a public holiday here. I find Japanese classic camera EBay dealers generally pretty reliable, they give detailed descriptions and I find if you ask they will generally answer questions, provide further pictures etc.

 

[JJB70]

One thing that the pictures make me think of is surface finish. I don't know whether it was a British market thing but in the days of metal SLR bodies we had to pay a premium for black finished versions. Not a huge premium but it was nevertheless more expensive. In most cases I actually preferred the silver finish and think cameras like the Nikon FE, FM, Olympus OM-1, OM-2, Pentax M and K series etc looked better in silver than black. A few years down the line a lot of manufacturers started offering silver painted versions of their AF models with plastic polycarbonate bodies which I really didn't like. Not only was the silver pain unconvincing but they aged very badly. I quite like a little bit of wear patina on metal cameras as it adds a bit of character (not too much mind!) but I find with plastic bodies it just makes them look beat up and cheap as silver pain is scratched and degrades.

 

[mhardy6647]

The black finish was the mark of "pros" -- they didn't want their cameras glinting in the sun (or so the story goes).
And the real pros (sort of like the Cossacks, if memory serves) were just as happy to have their black cameras brassed by grueling days of bodies smacking together as the photographers did their work.

https://icouldbeahero.blogspot.com/2013/11/this-old-camera-black-brassed-beautiful.html

The black/silver thing in cameras wan't all that different, I'd opine, than the sea change from "silver" (brushed aluminum) to black (anodized aluminum, and later plastic) domestic audio hardware. Black consumer hifi equipment was exotic for a while, until it wasn't.





... but I digress

 

[rdenney]

I gotta go make a pic of my old F-1. It's up in the pile somewhere. And my oldest 6x7. Both show plenty of brass, but maybe not quite as bad as that F above.

Rick "recalling that the TU-717 tuner was actually pretty good" Denney

 

[mhardy6647]

My son likes his cameras with some character.

His own first SLR. He spent a summer doing a maths program in Budapest when he was in college (ca. 2009). Someone told him that prominent and well-known brand names could invite theft, so he took it upon himself to "disguise" his FM. He took lots of great photos in and around Buda & Pest, and the Evil FM survived unscathed.

capture by icouldbeahero on DeviantArt

www.deviantart.com

 

[JeffS7444]

I guess I'm the contrarian, because I like to de-dent my cameras, and I'll repaint them too, if it seems necessary. While it still looks well-worn, I wish I had taken a "before" picture of this Olympus OM1, because as received, it looked ghastly, with paint peeling from the die cast metal surfaces, and lots of powdery white corrosion beneath it. I'll replace the leatherette at some point, as the original has shrunken badly and is only lightly tacked into place for this photo. Paint is one area where I can see cost-cutting with Olympus OM versus the N and C flagships, which add another layer of protection to die-cast exterior surfaces.

Would like to add a 50/2 OM macro lens at some point, as it seems it was kind of a big deal in it's day.

 

[mhardy6647]

View attachment 183597
I guess I'm the contrarian, because I like to de-dent my cameras, and I'll repaint them too, if it seems necessary. While it still looks well-worn, I wish I had taken a "before" picture of this Olympus OM1, because as received, it looked ghastly, with paint peeling from the die cast metal surfaces, and lots of powdery white corrosion beneath it. I'll replace the leatherette at some point, as the original has shrunken badly and is only lightly tacked into place for this photo. Paint is one area where I can see cost-cutting with Olympus OM versus the N and C flagships, which add another layer of protection to die-cast exterior surfaces.

Would like to add a 50/2 OM macro lens at some point, as it seems it was kind of a big deal in it's day.

It looks great... and I like that ol' Zuiko glass quite a bit.
I don't have any Olympus hardware, sadly -- I don't think that Prof. Hardy does, either... although I am not absolutely sure about that.

oops, silly me!

This Old Camera: Olympus OM-1N MD with Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8

Olympus OM-1N MD Camera type: 35mm SLR Lens mount: Olympus OM Shutter: 1 - 1/1000 seconds plus bulb Depth-of-Field Preview: on ...

icouldbeahero.blogspot.com

He might not have it any more, though Looks like it was an organ donor.

 

[Timcognito]

Hey anyone. Not really following this thread and not a huge camera buff. I inhered an old Nikon SLR w/lenses (early '60's) and a Brownie and I am wondering if there are kits or services to convert them to digital format cameras. If this idea is sacrilegious please don't lambaste me. Just curious and thought it might be fun, especially the Brownie. Thanks in advance.

 

[JeffS7444]

Hey anyone. Not really following this thread and not a huge camera buff. I inhered an old Nikon SLR w/lenses (early '60's) and a Brownie and I am wondering if there are kits or services to convert them to digital format cameras. If this idea is sacrilegious please don't lambaste me. Just curious and thought it might be fun, especially the Brownie. Thanks in advance.

Sort of?
https://imback.eu/home/
Seems to basically be a small sensor + fresnel lens.

 

[mhardy6647]

Dan Schmalle ("Doc Bottlehead", of https://bottlehead.com/ fame), many, many years ago, added an inexpensive digital back to a not-so-inexpensive large format view camera in the form of a repurposed flatbed scanner.

I googled around a little bit, but couldn't find any trace of the post at the moment
I thought it was an excellent and hyper-clever idea and always kind of wanted to try it myself. No 8 x 10 view cameras here, though.

 

[JJB70]

The subject of classic cameras brings up names long gone, some have already been mentioned in this thread, like Topcon and Contax. Others names still with us are not the companies they once were, Pentax is a brand name of Ricoh, Olympus cameras are no longer part of the Olympus Corporation and the compact cameras sold under the Yashica name are nothing to do with the old Yashica company or Kyocera. There were many camera names which many young people have probably never heard of, such as Petri, Chinon, Miranda, Konica and maybe even Minolta. I guess the one that bucks the trend of old names falling by the wayside is Fujifilm, they pulled the plug on their Fujica/Fuji SLRs in the 80's and were always a bit of a niche choice yet now Fujifilm have a pretty solid line up of APS-C and MF sensor size digital cameras.

One that really is sorely under rated and should be reappraised is Konica. They made some superb cameras and were quite an innovative company. Their older F model and then the Autoreflex models up to the T3 were built to be bombproof and although rather heavy and bulky were incredibly well made, durable cameras. They did something few others managed by having a fully mechanical shutter with auto-exposure, their shutter speed auto-exposure implementation was really very clever. And the optical quality of the Hexanon lenses was outstanding, they made some of the best lenses available and stand comparison with other much more famous and expensive lens marques. A lot of people didn't connect the dots when they released the extremely well regarded Hexar compact in the early 90's, that camera sold on the back of a superb lens and very high quality construction, yet their Hexanon lenses had always been among the best out there. The good thing is you can pick up nice Konica bodies and Hexanon lenses way below what similar gear would sell for if branded as Nikon, Canon or even Olympus, with the exception of certain cult Hexanons which can be expensive.

 

[mhardy6647]

^^^ Great post.
I don't know if there are any Konicas around here, now that you mention it.

EDIT: Looks like "the boy" has, or had, a later one, and a couple of lenses.

This Old Camera

A picture a day keeps the demons at bay.

icouldbeahero.blogspot.com

PS Hope you don't mind my postin' photos of these -- I just like lookin' at cameras, almost about as much as I like lookin' at hifi equipment.
I like usin' all this stuff, too.

 

[JJB70]

Please, keep posting!! I love classic cameras!

 

[JeffS7444]

Zenit 122K packaging. 2002 production, 2016 factory QC date.

Zenit KM Plus packaging, 2005 production date.

I purchased both cameras from Lomography. As far as I can tell, modernized packaging was reserved for "premium" products like KM+ and Horizon.

 

[thunderchicken]

But of course, if shooting an occasional roll of film were merely an alternate medium of expression for me, why on earth do I have so many old cameras?

Part of the fascination is holding a bit of history in one's hands: Often the companies and even the countries of origin no longer exist (DDR, Yugoslavia, USSR). And it's easy to forget how many were seriously lusted-after! Really enjoyed this account by "Sergei" of his quest for a Kiev-19 in 1980s Ukraine:

I feel a wee bit guilty when I recall owning a Nikon F3 around the same time (unimaginable wealth!) but I happened to live in a wealthier part of the world, and was starting to learn the art of buy/sell/trade. I repurchased an F3 the other year, very similar to the one I used to own. Cheap because I bought a broken one and fixed it.

Kiev 60 and 88CM are no longer so cheap, and it can actually be cheaper to get a Hasselblad, Bronica ETR, or SQ-series camera. Can scarcely find an 88CM on eBay these days, and when you do, asking prices are astronomical.

Crazy, I have a NIB Kiev 88CM sitting on a shelf. I haven't looked at prices, but should probably start selling my collection. I have two Contax 645 AF bodies, half a dozen film backs for them, and a P1 back. Other gems are an already-mentioned Yashica 124g, an HB 501C, and a Nikonos iii among dozens of other vintage cameras.

These days I mostly use my X100S or a 5DMk3, but when I'm feeling particularly OCD about a photo the Contax/Phase One kit comes out. I used to process film at home, but gave up on that a couple of moves ago. Had a studio with a darkroom ten years or so ago, and have unloaded most of that gear. Kept the cameras around to display and occasionally run film through.

I love that someone mentioned crossover between audio and photo gear- the thing that strikes me about the situation is that audiophiles with vintage gear don't care about measured quality, but photographers really do. I find it fascinating that old cameras can have similar or better image quality than brand new cameras. I taught photo students that the most important tool a photographer has is between their ears, not between their hands.

GAS is a disease that affects audio and visual nerds equally though, and no amount of lecturing or education is going to stop someone from buying the latest (and not necessarily greatest). Kyocera stopped production of the Contax 645 AF in 2005, yet it remains the single greatest camera ever made. To date, I haven't held or seen anything that beats it.

Seeing as how the first Contax 645AF cameras rolled off the line in 1998-99, they're more than 20 years old and are "vintage" now, yet they're made from carbon fiber, take two different styles of batteries (CR2 or AA) for easy power, have modern camera modes (PASM), great metering, autofocus (slow but accurate), fast lenses (80mm F2 in 645!), are light and comfortable, and the best of all- no damn screens. There is a locking button or switch for every function, so you're never going to wade through 6 screens of modes to figure out why 2nd curtain sync is enabled. The ability to switch between film and digital is just a massive bonus.

 

[JeffS7444]

NKVD FED 1 camera. I don't think it's particularly rare, but the extra engravings on the top cover do command a modest premium. Although not finished to the same level as a genuine Leica II, it's not bad. I need to replace the cloth shutter in mine before I can use it. Pretty sure that no one would be keen to commemorate the life and times of Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky or his NKVD today.

 

[JeffS7444]

On the other hand, this variant of the FED-1 owner's manual seems to be kind of rare. In general, I find most camera owner's manuals (not just Soviet ones) to be boring, matter-of-fact documents, but every once in awhile, I encounter something a bit more inspired.

 

[Timcognito]

Olympus Corporation and the compact cameras sold under the Yashica name

I have an Yashica Minister D (my first real camera) and I found this:

Image sensor format - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I am contemplating playing with it and a large CCD sensor. Why, you say, with all the digital cameras around? I think that if it was easy and reversible one could put it in a classic Hassleblad or Lieca or even something rarer with an odd format and get digital images akin to those of the past. My friend who is a professional still and film cameraman says I'm wasting my time when you can get all those affects with Photoshop. I think not, but who knows. I think many at ASR would agree that one test is worth a hundred expert opinions.

Thanks to JeffS7444 and mhardy6647 for trying to help out.

 

[JeffS7444]

No particular story here, except that this was the styrofoam-encased camera shown in post #54. Gave it away, regretted it for some reason, but found a very similar replacement for $25, so all is good.

 

[mhardy6647]

On the other hand, this variant of the FED-1 owner's manual seems to be kind of rare. In general, I find most camera owner's manuals (not just Soviet ones) to be boring, matter-of-fact documents, but every once in awhile, I encounter something a bit more inspired.
View attachment 183732View attachment 183733

any examples of beguiling manuals?

Off topic (in an on topic sort of way for ASR) -- some of my favorite-ever audio component manuals were produced by the "real" Crown International (Corp.) of Elkhart, Indiana. They were entertaining to read, while still being useful and informative. I'd categorize them as wry.

source: https://www.hifiengine.com/hfe_downloads/index.php?crown/crown_ic-150.pdf